Old Ghosts
by probablylostrightnow
Summary: Maz Kanata proves to have a very old friend... She was not surprised at all when the bald-headed, white-bearded man shimmered into place next to her. "I thought I was your boyfriend, Maz," he grumbled. She pushed her goggles aside and shot him a look. "Jolee. What a day we've had. That's what you feel the need to bring up?"


After the Resistance and First Order had made their hasty exits from the scene, it was left to Maz to pick up the pieces. Her guests and lodgers needed safe and stable shelter. Many were in need of medical care; others awaited death rites. Supplies needed to be salvaged and inventoried, and treasures beyond price accounted for.

Many hours passed before she had a moment to stop and sit down. Looking over the ruins of her home, she pondered the question that had been in the back of her mind all the while. Was it feasible to rebuild? Or was it time to write the place off and move on?

She was not surprised at all when the bald-headed, white-bearded man shimmered into place next to her.

"I thought _I_ was your boyfriend, Maz," he grumbled.

She pushed her goggles aside and shot him a look. "Jolee. What a day we've had. _That's_ what you feel the need to bring up?"

"Hey, I spent more than enough time around those walking carpets," Jolee went on. "What does one of them have to offer you that I don't?"

"Corporeality?" Maz suggested archly.

He scowled. "Having a physical body has its disadvantages. For example, it renders one vulnerable to being crushed by slabs of falling rock."

Maz pushed her goggles back over her eyes and dialed them to bring Jolee into better focus. With her vision amplified, she could see the tumult of the Force swirling about him. "That sounded like concern on your part. About me."

"I know it's ridiculous!" Jolee snapped. "You've proven damn near indestructible, not to mention a pain in the neck. But you're about the only person left who knew me, back when I still had my own physical body. My afterlife would lack some spice if you died."

"Afraid that I'd haunt you?"

"Afraid that you wouldn't," he said quietly.

They sat in silence for a long moment. "So, nothing portentous to say?" Maz asked to break it. "I hear you dead Jedi are good at that."

"I'm no Jedi, and you know I could never follow that script," Jolee said. "Just fill in some mystic pronouncement about destiny and purpose and the Force, and take it from there."

"Scoff all you want," Maz said. "But that girl…"

"I haven't seen that much swirly Force in a long time. The Jedi Council would be falling over themselves in excitement, if they hadn't been massacred. Repeatedly," Jolee said dourly.

"You know she's important."

"If she is, pity her, and pity those around her." He gestured at the ruins, a flash of anger passing quickly over his face. "Swirly Force doesn't seem to give a damn about the collateral damage it leaves in its wake."

"There's your mystic pronouncement," Maz said. "But I don't know…"

Jolee broke in, "You're telling me there's something _you_ don't know? Give me a chance to recover from the shock."

Maz glared at him through her goggles. "Stop interrupting me, old man. Unless you want to hear about the sensual pleasures of a Wookiee boyfriend."

"That's not fighting fair."

"Was that another interruption?" Maz asked sweetly.

Jolee clamped his mouth shut.

"I sat in there," Maz continued, gesturing at the ruined castle, "and told Han Solo to stop sitting out the fight," Maz continued. "But you and I, what are we doing?"

"Are you trying to say we should go fight the First Order?" Jolee asked. He seemed to have forgotten that he wasn't supposed to be speaking.

"Yes," said Maz, with a certainty that surprised her. "In our own way."

"Because unless opposed by us, they will bring destruction to the galaxy. Just like the Empire, the Sith, the true Sith, the other Sith, the Mandalorians, Exar Kun…"

"You realize that you are the _only_ person who remembers Exar Kun."

"I could add a dozen more names to that list. And in spite of all these threats, the galaxy remains."

"Ah!" Maz said, scooting over so she could position her face in front of Jolee's. "Who does not give a damn about collateral damage now?"

"It's not the same as… Fine, fine!" Jolee said. "Let's go find an interesting way for the galaxy to kill us."

"Isn't that quite redundant, in your case?"

"I wouldn't put it past the galaxy," Jolee said, glaring at her. Beneath the glowering and grumbling, though, Maz thought she saw something else.

The old ghost was _happy_.


End file.
